This is Cochabamba, the city which is now my home in Bolivia:
And yes, the animals at the 3:22 minute mark are llama fetuses. They are sold at the “Witches’ Market” and you are supposed to bury one of them in the ground when building a new house. It will protect the domicile. If you are building a house soon, I can mail you one.
Despite this somewhat spooky corner of the “La Cancha” market, the city is very friendly, with many parks and an agreeable mix of tradition and modernity. It’s not a museum town for tourists, but a city in which people really live. But despite its size (650,000 people), I never get the feeling of living in a city which is too large or too hectic.
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Andreas,,,
Thanks for the video–it’s a nice treat for me–and a good overview video of Cbba.
I’ve been to most places featured, multiple times–and the photos of the food??? Mouthwatering!
BTW,,,in an earlier post you mentioned going to a movie multiple times–just curious, how much is an admission ticket these days?
Enjoy your stay there–be there no doubt that I would.
locotojhon
At the Cine Center in Cochabamba, a ticket was 35 bolivianos, which I found relatively high, compared to the prices of most other things and compared to the local purchasing power.
Agreed–here the price is about 2.5x that amount.
Cine center charges high B’s to try to keep out the ‘riff-raff’.
Hang out a while, and it’ll be “Oh,,,German? It’s party time!”
Bolivians are the most partying people I have met–any reason or the lack of one and it is reason enough for party time.
Carry on in my absence, would you please?
locotojhon
I will have to find a cheaper cinema then.
Before coming to Bolivia, I was in Brazil. By comparison, I find it very quiet and civilized here. Which I appreciate because I am not a party person at all.
Luckily, I have been meeting the kind of people who don’t invite me to parties, but who want to get together to discuss constitutional law or agricultural engineering to produce more resistant seeds or to tell me the history of the Salpeter War.
Good luck with the cheaper cinema, Andreas. I don’t know of any other local venues–Cine came in with brand new facilities and very low prices and drove the few that existed out–the Walmart of movie houses. (As far as partying goes, I’m not the party animal I once was either, dammit.)
Interesting interests you have, though I’m uncertain how AE produces more resistant seeds. (That is, unless AE is now involved in plant science/breeding/genetics.) (It was my major @ Cornell ALS ’81, but I haven’t kept up with recent developments.)
OTOH, there are some very helpful NGOs building bunker-style greenhouses for year-round nutrition in the altiplano with good success. Also, there is an amazing (absolutely blew me away) German (I believe) dude who has a school above the Bolivian shore of Lake Titicaca where he teaches Bolivians how to make equipment for and hand-drilled water wells, building hand/foot pumps, pipelines, sanitizing vessels and storage vessels for ‘students’ to take back to their communities–all from locally-sourced common and inexpensive components. (Classes 2x/year IIR) Videos of his invaluable work used to be found online–and perhaps might still be. Reduction of indoor pollution from cook-fires is another needed AE innovation needed by many.
One thing is for certain–anything you can do to help others will never be forgotten by recipients.
Happy daze,,,locotojhon
There is another cinema in the center, a bit north of Avenida Heroinas.
I already noticed that there are hundreds of small initiatives all over Bolivia, and I am looking forward to get to know some of them and write about them.